The dining hall at Williams College's dormitory, Mission Park, whose name is associated with the birth of U.S. foreign Christian missions in 1806. Located on Mission Park Drive, the Haystack Monument marks the site where five Williams students sought shelter from lightning and were struck by the impulse to found the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). In 1896, it galvanized U.S. opposition to the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, reported The New York Times (November 10, 1896).
The American Missionary Association, founded in 1846 by members of the ABCFM and other missionary societies, was dedicated to the abolition of slavery, promotion of racial equality and the education of African Americans. It chartered, and it supported many black colleges and universities, including Howard University. (Photo by Lisa Porter)
PART II
CHAPTER 1
It was the vein in your forehead that beckoned me. It bulged and throbbed whenever you became excited, happy or mad. Because you were a passionate man, it often revealed itself.
It was your eyes, dark and intense, that riveted me. When you left a room, your stare stayed behind and bore into my dreams, day and night.
It was your feet, long and muscular, which stalked me until they entwined with mine.
I found such comfort waking up with you in the mornings. I would grope for you under the covers and kiss you in the mouth. We would make love, and I would not want to let you out. Gently, you would pull away. We would start our day already longing to smell each other again.
When we first met at Williams College, I had resisted your magnetism. I was wary of taking another lover and risking more heartache. We were platonic, I had said finally, while my resolve quivered my insides. I was all mixed up. You had honored my decision and outwaited, with deliberation, my change of mind.
We brought up many a day’s sun in our dormitory rooms in Pratt House, one of four houses in Mission Park, revealing ourselves to each other in conversations about politics, art and law. The Black Movement, photography and writing. Watergate, James Van Der Zee and Zora Neale Hurston. The Arab oil embargo, Alfred Stieglitz and Tennessee Williams. Revolution, your eye and my hands. Our souls.
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